WarGames/YMMV

• Contested Sequel: There was a direct-to-TV sequel of this film, released in the 2000s, in which WOPR/Joshua, a grown-up David Lightman, and various friendly hackers have to fight a modern game server with military applications (apparently in that order, seeing how many people game on her) named RIPLEY. This one has considerably more real-life damage -- there is no real thermonuclear war, but there are some devastating non-nuclear attacks on American infrastructure.
• Fridge Horror: Imagine what might have happened when he started playing the game-that-wasn't-a-game with the computer controlling the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal if David had decided to start launching missiles from the U.S. side...
  • Nothing. NORAD would detect missile launch, call up the silos and find out that this is a simulation. Soviets would never know anything is happening because they aren't getting data from JOSHUA.
  • Was WOPR only given control of the nuclear arsenal, or might it have been responsible for other WMDs as well? If so, what might have happened if David had opted to play Theaterwide Biotoxic And Chemical Warfare instead?
    • Nothing. For one thing, we don't really have those in deployable form -- the only reason we have map exercises involving biological and chemical warfare is to plan what to do in case we're attacked by them. For another, even if they did exist they would hardly be turn-key systems -- human beings would still have to take the damn shit out of the incubators/storage tanks, load it, prep it, and fire it... and human beings, of course, would first pick up phones and call NORAD for voice confirmation of their orders.
• Memetic Mutation: "Shall we play a game?"
  • Memetic Mutation + It Was His Sled: "The only winning move is not to play."
  • If the video game sequel is to be believed, David might consider "Joshua" a personal meme for him in-universe; he's the CEO of "Joshua" Information Systems.
• Seinfeld Is Unfunny: The tropes around hacking can look retroactively tired.
• Sequelitis: Most people have no idea that a sequel was made. This is a very good thing. Filmed a full two decades after the original, featuring no returning characters or actors and having absolutely nothing to do with the original film in any way, it also features some of the worst writing and acting ever committed to celluloid.
  • Another sequel, The Dead Code, actually does have a number of connections to the original film, but is still nowhere near as good.
• Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped:
  • "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?"
  • It's a rare movie that does it without demonizing anyone on either side or reducing them to cliche' stereotypes.
• Values Dissonance: How many modern viewers Face Palm when they see the list of passwords on a sheet of paper right next to the computer? In fact, if you're reading this website, that's likely exactly what you've been told not to do ever since you were big enough to hit a spacebar. (Anyone in tech support, or who enjoy (The Customer is) Not Always Right and similar "customer service hell" anecdotes, knows that this still happens today.)

Tropes found in War Games: The Dead Code include:

• Anvilicious: Dr. Falken gives a little speech about how he designed the WOPR to work in tandem with RIPLEY rather than against her. The last word of his speech is "Bipartisanship". This in a movie that came out the same year Barack Obama was elected President.

---

Back to WarGames